This was the day we had planned to climb the Carrauntoohil the highest peak of McGillycuddy Reeks but having lost my climbing stick and having sustained a minor back injury, I cried off. My friends refused to climb without me and so we all went on a long botanising trip round the entire Ring of Kerry instead. At the far point we explored a peninsula where the Kerry Lily has been known to flower, hoping that we would not be too early. We were fortunate enough to find several plants of this extremely rare native, only found in this far southerly point of the Republic of Ireland, just beginning to flower.

The photo shows the densely hairy filaments which support the anthers but the flower is only a few centimetres across. It looks to be in a reasonably healthy state as we estimated over 50 plants on this one bank alone.

Simethis mattiazii is a new name in New Flora of the British Isles by Clive Stace (Edition 3 2010). The old name was Simethis planifolia.

Peninsula off the Ring of Kerry, Republic of Ireland May 22nd 2005

Added on 23rd May 2005, updated 8th February 2012